After Sales Nightmare (Barratt Homes)

Member Name: Paul

Product:	Barratt Homes
Date:	22/04/08 (388 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap -- now I know why!!

Disadvantages: Very poor customer service. Very poor after sales. Very poor workmanship.

We moved into our new Barratt house on the Ashdale estate in Kilmarnock on 29/01/07 and 16 months later we are still waiting on items on the Pre-Move Inspection being sorted.

A summary of our problems are:

Squeaking stairs on the day we moved in.
1. Light switches incorrectly wired.
2. Sockets on the ring main incorrectly wired and we ended up with 2 radial circuits as opposed to a ring!!!
3. Poorly sealed shower tray which was repaired but has (in the last 3 hours) been found to be leaking again and has damaged our livingroom ceiling.
4. Broken cover on the incoming electrical supply.
5. Hundreds upon hundreds of nail pops on the plasterboard walls and ceilings.
6. Poor taped joints on the plasterboard resulting in most of the joints being clearly visible.
7. A joiner who came in to do repairs was shocked to discover that the plasterboards had been fitted with nails instead of screws and said that the standard throughout the site very poor and he was having to patch up most of the houses.
8. Exposed steel lintels above windows not painted or covered.
9. Poor fitting loft hatch.
10. Electrical cables run across the middle of the loft hatch.
11. Window facing damaged and falling off.
12. A joist has been installed too low and has left a large lump on our living room ceiling.
13. Holes in the wall under the stairs.
14. Every floor upstairs is creaking. They have had several attempts at repairing this but can't stop it re-occuring.
15. The landing floor has sunk and is uneven which means it is unsafe to put the ladders up to go into the loft.
16. Loose bannister.
17. The newel caps on the bannister were left with razor sharp edges and corners which resulted in several painful slashes to myself and the kids.
18. The back garden has NO drainage and is a swamp for several days after a heavy shower. We have had several dates for work to commence but they turn out to be empty promises.
19. A brick was missing from the garage which resulted in mice getting in.....but I got the little ********!

That is about it...apart from things like touching up the paintwork etc.

Although to be fair they have done a few repairs quickly...replaced a damaged door, rewired the faulty light switch, replaced a faulty window.


The site sales agent is a waste of space and she wasn't happy when I refused to give her top marks in the first after sales survey.....They got absolutely slated in the second one. Now she doesn't want to know about any of the problems.

The Site construction manager keeps saying yes to everything and does nothing. I have spoken to 2 of his bosses (who seem to change every 4-5 months) and they are pretty much the same.


Where do I go from here??

Well tonight we have made an up to date list of the issues which are still outstanding (18 issues -- mostly minor, several major to us) and written a covering letter which will be handed to the sales agent and construction manager tomorrow. It will also be faxed and posted by recorded delivery to their West Scotland office. It gives them 7 days to reply in writing with a timescale of when the issues will be addressed. If they fail to do this then I will be meeting my solicitor to take it further.

I am determined not to let them win. If need be I will speak to my neighbours who ALL have outstanding issues ranging from nail pops to fire doors which don't close, and see about taking Barratts to court to fix all our faults.

Summary: Don't buy Barratt. Get all promises in writing.